ABC's Philip Williams interview in Ashkelon, Israel

Interview with ABC correspondent Philip Williams - who is in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon just north of the border with Gaza.

Transcript

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EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Our correspondent Philip Williams is in the Israeli coastal city of Askhelon, just north of the border with Gaza.

Hi there, Phil. We've just seen from Norman Hermant's piece there that where you are right now has faced some serious bombardment. Can you tell us what the situation is like right now?

PHILIP WILLIAMS, EUROPE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, about 45 rockets have been fired so far and some of them have landed in Askhelon. I'll just show you what's happened here. You can see the hole here's come through the cement, the roof, and gone right through and landed on the floor here. Now, that's made far more alarming by the fact that this is a school. Luckily, all the schoolkids of course are at home. They're staying close to their safe houses. And so no-one was hurt here. A house was hit just a short time ago, a few minutes ago. Again, no injuries there, but that's more good luck than anything else. So really, there's no sign of any let-up at all, and again, no sign of any sort of compromise along the way in terms of those negotiations that we hear about in Cairo.

EMMA ALBERICI: Well what are you hearing in relation to those negotiations? Because we understand they are gathering apace. What is the indication there in terms of the agenda for peace?

PHILIP WILLIAMS: Well, we're really getting nothing out of there. It's closed-door and it's secret and it's stayed that way; not much is coming out. What we can tell you though is on the Israeli side, and this is the side I'm on at the moment, that they've really red-lined it. They've said, "We don't want any more of these rockets and we don't want just a ceasefire, we want a cessation. We want an end to them totally." And I tell you what, the people of these towns, who live with this day in, day out, couldn't agree with them more. They just want the rockets to stop.

EMMA ALBERICI: Philip Williams there in Askhelon in Israel, thanks so much for your time.